Friday, November 6, 2009

The Georgia Bulldogs are suffering through the worst season of Mark Richt's career. As bad as the season has been, I am afraid it will pale in comparison to how bad things are going to be in the off-season.

We ran a BUI poll giving you the reader the opportunity to give a thumbs up or down to every member of the coaching staff. The results were not that surprising. I plan on doing the same poll following the season and comparing the results.

I bring this up because my readers, by a large majority, gave Rodney Garner a vote of approval. Not much of a news maker given his reputation as a recruiter and all of the talent he has sent to play on Sunday. There was a solid handful of Garner critics via email or direct tweets. No one dared go public with any criticism of Garner. Until now.

Kensingtondawg delves into the narrative that many in the Bulldog Nation have dared not go.

However, Martinez should not be the only defensive coach shown the door. In fact, Rodney Garner should be the first coach let go. According to sources close to program, Rodney Garner is a “cancer” on this staff, and one of the reasons Kirby Smart is not on this coaching staff today is due to a falling out with Garner.

I too, have been told of problems within the coaching staff that center upon Coach Garner. In fact, this led me to predict Coach Searels would leave before Coach Martinez. Bringing John Lily in, an excellent recruiter in his own right, should serve to mitigate some of the jeopardy we face in future decisions regarding Coach Garner, but I am less than excited by the prospect.

Despite President Obama's election, we are not living in a post-racial America. In things as nasty as college football recruiting, we can all be assured any slighting of Garner will be used against us.

1 comment:

I expect nothing more than to see CMR honestly evaluate every part of this program in the off-season. Every coach. Every player. Every game plan. Every position battle. Every recruiting choice. It's hard to tell in a season like this one where there are too many holes in the dam and not enough fingers to fill them exactly which area is the most underachieving, but I know I certainly expected more out of our interior defensive lineman than I have seen this year...at least in terms of consistency. Whatever changes need to be made, I have total faith in CMR to recognize them and make them. As for CRG recruiting prowess, well this may be a problem that will be solved by the domino effect that will follow any staff changes. A recruiting guru may be just around the corner that will ease the any possible loss of CRG. In fact, I would wager a great deal that recruiting impact will absolutely be a part of any resume that might garner consideration from CMR for a possible staff opening. Again, I'm not declaring what the changes should be. I have my opinions, but I'm not making the choices and right now I don't know that it's relevant what I think, other than to say that it is obvious changes must be made.